Sopore attack spreads panic, telecom outlets remain shut in north Kashmir

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 26

A day after a telecom employee was killed and two others were injured in a militant attack on a BSNL franchise showroom in north Kashmir’s Sopore town, panic has spread in the area. 

Private telecom companies have not only closed their outlets in Sopore but also in Baramulla, Pattan, Gantmulla and Sheeri in north Kashmir. Though the police blame the Hizbul Mujahideen for the attack in the town, the militant outfit on Tuesday alleged that the attack on the telecom centre was the handiwork of “Indian agencies”.

Private telecommunication companies operating in north Kashmir said there was a visible threat. “Though telecom services are operational in Sopore and other areas, but hundreds of showrooms, franchise, retailers and recharge outlets remained shut after yesterday’s attack,” said a senior official of a private mobile company in north Kashmir, who did not want to be identified. 

“There is a visible threat and if the situation remained like this the mobile services too may be suspended,” he added.

For local residents in the volatile Sopore town, it is for the first time since the mobile phones were introduced in J&K that such a situation has emerged. “It is a precarious situation which is being seen for the first time and after the Monday attack, the militant threat looks serious,” said Shakir Ahmed, a local trader.

Most of the prepaid mobile subscribers in the town were seen calling their relatives in other parts of Valley to recharge their phones. 

Militants had been warning the telecom companies to shut their services after a communication device that was installed by them on a mobile tower in the town went missing. Though the communication device has been recovered by the police, the militants suspect 

that it was uninstalled by the maintenance department of these telecom companies and handed over to the police.

The communication gadget, sources said, was a high-power frequency transmitter which was being used by militants to improve their communication.

Minister for Education Naeem Akhtar, who is also the state government spokesman, said the Sopore attack indicated that the perpetrators of violence had made their intentions clear that they didn’t want people to earn their bread and butter.